An explosion at a natural gas pipeline in eastern Turkey disrupted the flow of gas from Iran on Thursday, the Anatolia news agency has said, based on information it said it received from the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.
According to the report, the explosion occurred at the Turkey-Iran Natural Gas Pipeline between the Turkish villages of H?d?rl? and Kalender near the Iranian border at around 2:00 a.m. Iran immediately cut the supply of gas to the pipeline following the explosion, the ministry said. Officials from the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTA?) as well as Gendarmerie forces arrived at the site of the explosion shortly after the incident happened and are at still at the scene trying to determine the cause of the explosion and to fix the damage. Once the pipeline has been repaired, the flow of natural gas is expected to resume in four to five days, the ministry also told the agency.
Turkey receives 27 million cubic meters of natural gas from Iran every day. Iranian gas has recently made news in Turkey as Iran increased the price of a 1,000 cubic meters of gas to $524 just when global prices are plummeting. For 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas, Turkey paid $423 to Iran, $418 to Russia and only $282 to its brotherly nation Azerbaijan in 2011. Iran is currently the number two supplier of gas to Turkey, providing 24.3 percent of all natural gas imports, following Russia, which provides 45.6 percent.
